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August 25, 2009

We finally celebrated Ben's 7th birthday on Sunday ... and what a whole lot of exciting fun it was too!

We took Ben and a few of his best friends to the Circus!

There were loads of amazing magic tricks, stacks of scantily clad women who appeared and disappeared from various different boxes, jaw dropping acrobatic feats, a woman who managed to balance on a over-sized disco ball while dancing with more hula hoops than I have seen in my entire life time and three totally loony motor bike riders that all rode around together, at great speed, in a metal sphere!!!!!

... and then we had cake!

Happy 7th birthday ... yet again my sweet boy!

While I'm reflecting upon late celebrations there is one more that needs to be addressed ... that elusive 100th post celebration that I have been putting off for the past 7 posts ...

I finally put on my skates and finished my new tree quilt ... that I have called Lilly Pilly.

I just love this quilt ... it has turned out even better than I had hoped that it would ... sorry about the photos it is a little gloomy here today and I didn't want to wait any longer!

One person who leaves a comment to this post will get to take this quilt home with them ... but there is one catch ... if you want to play along you will have to agree to wait a little while before it comes to live with you as I need to have it to display on my stand at the Australian Quilt Market in November of this year....

So do you want to play along ... are you prepared to wait to collect the quilt? Cool!

To enter the giveaway you must leave a comment on this post between now and midnight Australian EST on 2nd of September. As always there are a couple of extra ways that you can rack up extra entries ...

if you purchased one of my last batch of patterns during the preorder period you will receive an extra 10 entries (please note preorder in your comment)

if you link to this giveaway in a post on your blog then you will collect an extra 3 entries ... if you do this please let me know by emailing me hereand noting Giveaway Link in the subject field.

If you have included a picture of something that you have made using one of my patterns on the Don't Look Now - your take on my designs Flickr group page (more on this a little later in this post) then you will rack up an extra 5 entries - let me know by emailing me here and noting Flickr Picture in the subject field. (this includes pictures from my old album that still lives in my side bar - if one of these pictures are yours that I have already downloaded into Flickr please make sure you email me and let me know because I have a feeling that collating these entries is going to be a headache!)

As promised if you have left a comment on any of my last 8 posts and you win the quilt you will receive an extra little something ... these posts have now had the the comments closed during this giveaway period to make sure that the regular commenter's aren't disadvantaged.

In addition to this ... if you have purchased a pattern from me or any of the retailers who stock my patterns and you win the quilt you will also receive an extra little something. The pattern needs to be purchased before the end of this giveaway & you will need proof of purchase.

Just a word of caution though ... if you happen to claim any of the extra entries and you aren't entitled to them then you wont be able to play along! Fair is fair! I will be checking!

In addition to the Lilly Pilly Quilt I will giveaway another 10 of the How does your garden grow patterns

and 5 of the new Love grows free patterns.

Other than this bit of excitement I have a heap of other things to share with you all about the past weeks happenings ....

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon with the NOTY Quilters Guild last Saturday! I loved sharing my quilting experiences with such a receptive and friendly bunch of women! Thank you all so much for making me feel so welcome! Unfortunately I don't have any photos just yet of meeting but I will post them once I do.

This past Saturday I got up supper early ... early for a Saturday that is ... packed the Bernina in into the Mazada and zoom zoom zoomed ...

Poor Pam soldered on despite ill health and did incredibly well considering she could hardly breathe! Have you checked your stash Pam to make sure I didn't make off with piece of fabric you have there!

This is Keri and she is a Sewing Machineaholic ... I wont tell you how many sewing machines she has at home just in case I get it wrong ... I wouldn't be surprised if she bought another one on the way home from the class ... no only kidding ... you know I'm just jealous! Keri also picked up the technique incredibly quickly and hopefully you all will get to admire her version of Oh Christmas Tree on the Flickr page very soon!

Katrina is the most delightful girl who sells hand made clothing among other things at local markets. She hadn't done any quilting to speak of before the class ... and although she wouldn't admit to it, she worked really hard at getting the hang of this skill and did some fantastic work!

Roma, who is a seasoned quilter and is accomplished at hand applique, took to raw edge like a duck to water!! I am really looking forward to seeing your version of Rainbow Lollipops & Garden Party Roma!!

And for some reason or another, Yvonne you managed to escape the focus of my lens ... I'm so sorry! Please send me a picture Yvonne so that I can share your project with everyone! But for now my sample will sit where your work should be!

Thank you so much guys for a lovely day! It was great to get to know you all and to meet some people who found me through other sources other than my blog!

Ballarat Patchwork are also now stocking my patterns if you are over that way make sure you drop in ... it is well worth the trip ... once you peek inside you will understand why I drool over this shop! Just in case you are looking for the Hankie Linen that I use alot in my projects they keep a good range of the colours in stock. They also have a great on-line shop as well for those of you that a just too far away to drop in.

.. that's my fabric Emma's cutting up! Oh and by the way Jodie I'm still more than a little bit pissed that I didn't get to see you!!!

Creative Quilting a UK based shop in Surrey in the UK has also just started stocking my patterns this past week! Make sure you pop in if you happen to be in the area ... and don't forget to say I sent you!!!! They also have a beautiful on line shop!

As always with new retailers if you happen to be the first person to contact me after purchasing one of my patterns from either Ballarat Patchwork or Creative Quilting then I will send you out a copy of either How does your garden grow or the Love Grows Free pattern ... your choice :)

I also received a lovely comment on my last post from Sarah from Sewn & The last piece on Saturday morning...

Hey Kelly - NOT entering the competition, just letting you know that I am at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, and what did I see today? A stand selling your patterns, with samples made up looking very nice, and lots of ladies poring over the selection! Most exciting for Don't Look Now!

... the stand belonged to Dungarees & Daisies you made my day Sarah! Thank you so much for letting me know! I have asked Jen to send me some pictures of her stand to share with you ... apparently she had Kaffe admiring her samples!!!!!

Finally the giveaway winners from my last post ...

Marie Joze from Handmade by Mai left the 5th comment ... Mai has just finished some very nice bags and she is a Bernina girl so well worth a peek ... Mai also won some of my pattern a few weeks ago after leaving my 3000th comment!

Anna from Thimbleanna who left the 8th comment .... I owe you more than a pattern Miss Anna!!! If you don't know Anna then really you can't be a serious blogger! Go take a peak at the life of Anna ... I dream of being Anna's sister, or her daughter or daughter-in-law or even her cat!

Blogless Leanne who left the 63rd comment ....

Mary from Mary on Lake Pulaski left the 75th ... Mary must be on a winning streak as she just won one of Melly & Me Bon Bon bag patterns ... very nice bag Mary!!!!

Larissa from Flutter By Corner left the 80th comment .. Larissa has been working on her free motion stitching skills and things are looking great over her way ... but if you scroll down the page you will see why you must remember to remove your safety pins!!! Close one Larissa!

The gorgeous Sandy Gray from The Silver Thimble left the 95th comment ... Sandy stocks my patterns and is now an expert at inserting zips with a flap!!!

Last but not least blogless Julie Anne who left the 117th comment.

Congrats guys! I will send out each of you a copy of the How does your garden grow pattern as soon as I have your snail mail details.

One more 'final' cool thing from my last post, that I just realised, is that blogless Tammy Spencer left my 4000th comment ... I will send Tammy both of the giveaway patterns to celebrate! Thanks Tammy and to all of you for taking the time visit & to leave a comment! I very much appreciate it!!

Enjoy your week and good luck with the belated 100th post giveaway! Kellie

PS. Remember I mentioned the Don't Look Now Flickr group page earlier on .... well it is up and running. I have transferred all of the photos from the old album in my side bar to the group page. Make sure you take a peek and make sure you goin the group! If you leave some photos please make sure you let us know which pattern or tutorial you used and any other information you might like to share - such as the fabrics you used, quilting pattern etc. I hope that this place will become a source of great inspiration for us all!

****Edit September 3 ... just after midnight ,,, thank you all for entering this giveaway! What an amazing responce! I am so thilled that you like this quilt as much as I do. The giveaway is now closed & I have closed the comments for now. I am going to need a day or so to sort out all of the entries ... so see you back here Friday or Saturday. Kellie ****

June 22, 2009

Yep this is my 100th post but as explained in my last post it wont be the celebration post just yet .... however, there are a couple of things to celebrate since my last post! First up Mai from Handmade by Mai left my 3000th comment when she stopped by last week. I will be sending Mai a couple of patterns as my monkey making time is totally taken up at the moment with my current quilt.

Next up and thanks to the old random number generator blogless Chriss Jasper who left the 110th comment for the last post will be receiving the How Does your garden growpattern. Chriss is a regular visitor and commenter so I am thrilled to be sending her a little something.

Finally blogless Megan has collected on the giveaway pattern for being the first person to contact me after buying one of my patterns from Hettie's Patch!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment to that last post! I feel quite guilty that there were so many comments for just one pattern so I have decided to increase the number of patterns that I will give away, by one, for each of the next few posts leading into the eventual 100th Surprise Party Celebration(that name is so lame ... sorry but i can't think of anything else to call it ... just know that I am cringing as I write it!).So for this post I will give away two of the How does your garden grow patterns but you must comment on this post bySunday the 28th of June at midnight Australian EST.

Thanks also for sharing with me your sewing machine loves and hints! I am going to give that left foot, foot pedal a go this week and I will let you know how it works out. I am very lucky to have my machine and there is no doubt that it has helped with my technique ... just as my 440 had done before it. However, nothing beats practice & persistence when it comes to trying to master any skills!

So what have I been doing this past week? Well .... I finished of the trapunto phase of my current quilt & have gotten back into the last of the hand sewing. Hopefully it will be ready for sandwiching by Wednesday and then I will be on the downhill run!

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Jan, from Sewjourn, for lunch on Thursday. I am always very nervous when meeting up with fellow bloggers because I am not a very social body. Usually prefer the safety and the comforts of home and the solitude of my own company. However, after saying that, rarely have I met anyone in this blogging community that I have not thoroughly enjoyed the company of. Probably it's because we all share similar interests which is what has drawn us to each other in the first place.

Anyway ... as I was saying I met Jan on Thursday and handed over my bits and pieces for the Bushfire Quilt Hanging that turned out to be a great success on Saturday.

I also enjoyed meeting so many of you who have gotten to know me and my little family by visiting this space. Thank you so much for saying hello and for the great encouragement ... it is always good to have one's ego stroked!

If you came along I hope you enjoyed it ... so many amazing women have given so much time and effort to help others. An amazing effort by some very generous women!

Jan and I did discuss the possibility of holding a weekend workshop at Sewjourn... what do you think? We haven't made any arrangements as yet but I would be interested to know if any of you would like to come along and spend a weekend with Jan & I and our sewing machines? If this is something that you might be interested in, please contact me here. If it turns out that there is enough interest we can look at making a plan for early in 2010.

Oh and I have to share with you a new addition to our family who arrived on our door step last week like a typical British tourist ...

... this my friends ... is Elle and isn't she delightful!!! She's boarding with Miss Megan after leaving home a couple of weeks ago.

She has become a very loved member of our household so we were thrilled when she told us that she had decided to immigrate!! Now if only she could convince the rest of her family!!!!

I also found myself among some of Sarah's favorite things last week .... fancy being one of Sarah's favorite things ... of course I had to pop back and check on it at least a couple 100 times to make sure she hadn't made a mistake ;) but nup there I am .... thanks Sarah!

One more thing before I go ... I am after a collection of natural linens something like the one that I used for the bird cage. I kind of like that texture that this one has ...

... if you have seen anything that might be what I am after or know where I could look please let me know ... thanks!

That's it! Now I'm headed back to my sewing. Enjoy your week guys!

Kellie

PS If you can't manage to imagine your life without a gorgeous bunny like Elle make sure you go visit Lisa ... you wont be sorry ... isn't she cute!!!!!

PSS Forgive me if there are more than the usual errors in this post ... I have been hit by a cruel virus and I feel like crap. After examining me this morning my Doctor gave me a prescription but refused to give me some time off work!!! I think I need a new Doctor!!!! Are you reading this Doc? ;)

... & the Stitches & Craft Show that was held here in Melbourne this past week. Speaking about the Stitches & Craft Show ... I went on Thursday and met up with Sharon and just had such a nice social day! Sharon has given an excellent roundup of all of the highlights here & here so make sure you jump across & take a look. You should also take a look here for a little more Stitches & Craft love ... I feel like such an under achiever because all I really did was gossip all day and buy some fabric!

This bright and shimmery collection (can you see that glittery goodness?) was snapped up from the girls at Hot Possum... you should go and take a look at their delightful designs if you aren't familiar with them as it is truly a treat. They work magic with fabric!

I also bought Megan a Kinder Girls pattern from the ever so delightful Jodie for her to have a little play with ... if I don't get to it first!

Some other exciting news on the Don't Look Now! front is that there is another retailer who now is stocking all of my current patterns. Make sure you go and take a look at Tania's shop I'm sure you will find something that will take your fancy!!! I am offering the same deal as I did with the other tworetailers that I mentioned last week ... I will send a little gift to the first person who purchases one of my patterns from Tania and emails me the details - obviously the purchase has to be able to be confirmed.

I have been fiddling around with monkeys again and was pleased to see the winter supply of socks are now in the shops to replenish my dwindling stash ... one good thing about the rapidly approaching winter months I guess!

I have done a little more house keeping on the blog this past week and found a photo stashed away in my archives of a smock that Cee made a while back. Make sure you have a look because she has done an outstanding job. You will also find new to the album a smock that Sharon made for her beautiful niece Taylor! Sharon I want to know where you got that beautiful butterfly fabric!

Over the last few months I have had a couple of my very favorite QuiltShops discuss with me the possibility of running some classes and it looks like this might actually happen later in the the year ... which is both quite exciting and horrifically terrifying for me. So now I have to come up with what I would actually like teach and I thought who better to ask than you guys so ...I would really like to know what you would like to do in a class with me if one was available?

The new edition of Quilters Companion arrived in my mail box yesterday. There are some very beautiful quilts again in this months edition ...

This book is by Helen Stubbing of Hugs n Kissesand various other ventures. I have mauled this book to pieces and can't wait to have a go at this technique! Amazingly beautiful!

Other than this there has been a lot of the usual day to day life stuff happening here ... a lot of running the kids around, a lot of sewing but nota lot of housework! Sadly my house has slipped into a state of total disarray ... and this was confirmed so eloquently by Mr DLN last Wednesday when he had a momentary lapse into insanity ... sadly he thought it would be a good idea to give me a few pointers on how I could better manage my time so as to better clean the house! Somehow I don't think he will attempt to provide such advice again in a hurry!!!! Poor Mr DLN he is normally so very clever ...

Anyway I had better run ... Mr DLN is still at work (or at least he was when I drafted this post) so if I run around and quickly sweep all the dust under the mat & shove all the junk around the house in the already overflowing cupboards then I'll look like an absolute star when he returns! ;)

Have a great week

Kellie

PS Guess where I will be spending my time and money on Friday .... woooo hooooo!!!!

March 02, 2009

Before I jump into this weeks happenings I just want to say an enormous thank you to all of you for the absolutely amazing response to my last post. Your kindness means a lot to me. Thank you to those of you who also shared with me pieces of your past. This blogging community is a compassionate one filled with so many amazing and generous women. I am pleased to be a part of it. After reading Kirsten's beautiful I am from I felt compelled to write my own and I am very pleased that I did, it is quite a cathartic process and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Yesterday I sadly cleaned, oiled and packaged up a dear old friend .... she has been so very good to me! We have spent many a long hour together. She has served me well! Good bye my sweet 440 :( ....

Woooo Hooooo ... this has to make the transition to 40 a whole lot easier!!! She has only just made it outside the box as all the usual Sunday night rituals had to be attended to first ... but you can be sure that it will be unlikely that I will get any sleep tonight!!!! For those of you in Melbourne I got her from the lovely Kate from Kate's Sewing Centre in Bundoora and did she do me a deal... well she actually did Mr Don't Look Now a deal but you know what I mean! She also gave me an unbeatable trade in for my 440 as well! So if anyone is interested in a 3yo well cared for and well loved 440 you will find one on her shelves today.

So other than this pretty amazing machine what did I else did I get for my birthday ...

Thanks Lisa you are so sweet to have thought of me! I am sad that you live so far away!

I bought myself a copy of Photoshop Elements after getting quite excited by this post which lead me to this post ... . I may never actually work out how to use it ... or more to the point I may never actually get the time to work out how to use it, but I would like to!

I've called the quilt Circue des Cercles which is French for Circus of Circles.

My quilt that I have been working on for the past few weeks finally made it's trip to Sydney & you will hopefully get to see it in August this Year. I called it Love Birdsand it is eventually going to belong to my Jessica. It will be her 7th Birthday present ... sadly she wont actually get to snuggle in it on her birthday but hopefully she wont mind too much.

We are very lucky here in Melbourne to play host to the Australiasn Quilt Convention which started on Thursday and finished up yesterday. I made the trip in on Thursday and had a great day visiting all the stands and checking out all of the quilts. I was pretty excited by what I found on the Homespun / Quilters Companion stand ....

I don't think that I am meant to actually show you all yet ... but honestly that little bit of a quilt that you can see there is my quilt!!!! You will get to see the whole thing next month in the April edition of Homespun!

I was meant to meet this girlat the convention but forgot to write down which stand she was going to be on so I just wandered around all day madly reading eveyone's name badges like some weird stalker. Next time Jan!

But guess who I did get to meet last night ....... the Peppermint Patcher herself ... oh and her Pete! It was lovely to meet you Tracey and I'm looking forward to our trip to the my fabric mecca tomorrow!

I also got to meet some other lovely ladies including Claire, Lisa, Fairlie& some other lovely ladies who I will link to in my next post (I was hoping that someone else would have already done the links so that I could have stolen them ... dam it!!!). Anyway it was a lovely evening even if Mr Don't Look Now did stretch my tolerance levels when it comes to innovative parking!!!! (long story)

Before I go I will leave you all witha couple more pretty gorgeous versions of my designs. Firstly, Norma from Petit Debutant has made one of the Flower Garden pillows & Jen from Quilting Sisters made a pretty lovely quilt using the applique design from the Art Smocks.

There are so many more things that I wanted to share but I really need to get back to my new machine!! And a new project ... plus a couple of old ones that need finishing (Sue this week I promise!!!!) ...

January 27, 2009

We have had a very busy holiday considering we've not done anything much! :)

When I was sorting my photos for this post I came across this photo that reminded me that we did go across to Ballarat to the Blog Meet a couple of weeks ago which I have realised I never mentioned ...

This was the only photo taken of the actual meet .. Megan was the official photographer on the day with her new camera courtesy of Santa!

I dragged the whole family along using it as an excuse for quality family time. We did have a really nice time my husband took the kids to the pool next to the park while I got to spend some time chatting. It was so nice to put a face to the blogs! If you aren't familiar with these blogs do your self a favor and go take a peek at;

The kids have had three weeks of swimming classes which soaked up each morning and often part of the afternoon as well. But they have accomplished so much in that time that the 6am starts have been well worth it!

For most of the first week Joshua was the only student in his class so he has gone from total terror to being able to independently torpedo along with his face under the water. Ben and Jessie can now swim 4 laps of a 25m pool combining freestyle & backstroke. Jessica motors along like a speed boat and is justifiably proud of herself. Ben on the other hand although he manages quite well does look like he is about to drown at any moment! Megan has become a very accomplished swimmer easily able to swim 8 laps of the pool in freestyle, backstroke or breast stroke - she is quite amazing and looks so natural in the water. I would recommend VicSwim to any Victorian parent it really is a terrific program!

Putting together the patterns for my shop also took up so much time. Thank you for taking a look and a huge thank you to everyone who bought one or two! If anyone has tried to purchase a pattern and has been told by Paypal that Idon't ship to your area ... well Paypal is just kidding ... I do it is just that I haven't added your country to my shipping list. Please email me and I will sort it out for you.

And now with only a few short days before school starts back it has dawned upon me that I haven't organised anything for the term ahead ... so I'm off to get sorted and to cuddle the kids a bit before the time is totally up ...

... plus I've got to somehow find some time to finish this ...

... I have the hots for circles at the moment! :)

Have a great week and I'll see you all again once I have my little family settled back in school.Forgive me for not doing my usual visits to your blogs ... for now my life is getting in my way!

Congratulations Sue! I hope that it will bring you and your sweet daughter hours of pleasure!

Thank you everyone who left a comment last week. You have all blown me away with your encouragement & support for my blog and my new business venture! As I said last week it means so much to me. While I'm in the 'thanking' mode I do have to thank Louise who (as I have said many times before) opened this world to me. It was her blog that inspired me to begin mine and it was with her little boost that sent so many of you over to visit me. Thank you so very much Louise! It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you!

So today I am opening the 'doors' of my on line shop. I have created a link in my side bar if you want to take a look. I have worked my butt off this week and managed to put together patterns for two quilts as well as the puppet theatre ... it is amazing how much you can achieve when you don't sleep! :) For now all of the patterns are hard copies not down-loadable like my tutorials have been.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to show you the entire quilt ... so for now I'll stick to sneak peaks. I would have preferred to have made this quilt larger. Quilts this size (1mx 1m) aren't really all that useful unless you plan to hang them on a wall ... I prefer to snuggle my quilts or at least see the kids snuggling them :). So I have bound the quilt with the plan to enlarge it once the challenge is over.

Wednesday was a very exciting day in our home as the new edition of Quilter's Companion hit the news stands ....

And were all promptly bought by my family... because right there on page 76 is my Rainbow Lollipops! I can't tell you how exciting this has been for me and for Jessica for that matter .... she has slept with a copy of the magazine since Wednesday!!!!! :) I'm not quite sure if she gets the whole concept of how or why her quilt is in the magazine ... either way she certainly feels very special about the whole thing!

Not being a biased person .... I must say that this is an excellent edition of the magazine and I am most certainly in very good company!!!

Right there on the front cover is our Tracey!!!! How cool is she really???? Make sure you pop over and take a look at what she's been up to!

OK ... so that's it for me for the past week. Now I'm going to go sleep for 5 minutes then clean up the house ... it is literally frighteningly messy at the moment! Then on Monday it's time for a new project!!!

Have a fantastic week and thank you all again!!!

Kellie

PS. I was in at Amitie today and apparently a little while ago someone rang asking about a fairy fabric that I had on my blog a little while ago but they never left any contact details ... so if that was you ... it's now back in stock! :) Go on give them a ring ... we always need more fabric!!!

December 15, 2008

Well it is obvious that I have become totally acopic (Don't look now definition - total inability to cope with every day life!) since our return from our holiday so forgive me for my late posting, my erratic comments and general slackness ...

I haven't actually just been sitting on my butt and staring into space the whole time ... I have managed to get a few things done around here ...

I finally finished this quilt ...

It's called Jessica's Garden. I started this quilt a bit over a year ago and I'm so very pleased that it is finally finished. It's colours make me smile :)

I made a start on some gifts for the kids teachers ...

These bags are a pattern called Not Another Green Bag from Amitie. I really love these.

I received a fantastic parcel from Jo at French Knots as a part of Lisa's magazine swap ...

And what should I find inside one of the magazines but a spectacular creation by my very cool friend Cathy!!!!

Thank you so much Jo! I have enjoyed them immensely this weekend!

I also found this little treasure in amongst our wheelbarrow load of mail that we received once we returned fro the US ...

Nothing quite like a little bit of Ric Rac love! Thanks Jodie ... this is Megan's first activity on her Holiday To Do List.

My littlest man finished 3 year old kinder for the year ... so we will be spending even more time together ...

I have just been trying for way too long to link to a video that goes with this photo ... alas I am also acopic when it comes to blogging ... so if you would like to see Joshua's little song go to my Flickr page and take a look.

We put up the Christmas tree ... although I am a little scared that if Tiger keeps scaling it now it is dressed it wont stay up for long!!!!!

On Saturday I started and finished the Christmas shopping ... completed in one fowl swoop! Just the way I like it!

Finally, I made a start on this ...

Hopefully you will see it finished next time.

Enjoy your week!

Kellie

PS Sorry about the editing ... not doing well at all today! Missing photos, missing words ...arrrhhhhh!

December 05, 2008

This has been a week for little quilts here in the home of Don't Look Now. First up is my Doll Quilt which is all but finished and will begin it's journey around the world tomorrow once the binding is sewn down and a label is attached. I have called it I (heart) pink!

I used Lite Steam-A-Seam2 for the first time with this project, and I must say it is very nice to work with. It is not quite as tacky once it is attached to the applique shape as the Floraini product that I have been using lately but produces cleaner edges which is very nice. The applique was then secured with free motion stitching. The stitching detail is also free motion.

As always I quilted it to within an inch of it's life :). I hope that my swap partner likes it.

I received my little DQS5 quilt earlier in the week. It is a very cool creation from Helen of Patchwork of Mini Grey. Thank you so much Helen, it's really nice.

On Wednesday my new edition of Homespun arrived in the mail ... look what I found on page 18 ....

How cool is that little girl of mine??? I made her you know!!! We will all have to wait until next month now to discover what happens next!!!

There is also a very fabulous quilt by Claire from Matching Pegs in this edition together with several other excellent projects.

I also love the quilt on the front cover by Sandy Klop!

The magazine is really looking great and going from strength to strength ... well done Catherine!

Have a great weekend everyone ... hopefully by next week I will have caught up with you all.

November 28, 2008

It has taken longer than I expected to try and slot back into everyday life and I still feel a little like a fish out of water. The flight home was long and arduous and even before the midway point I was promising myself that I would never leave Australia again ... although I am sure that these emotions will pass with time! Besides ... once we win the lottery we will be able to fly first class ... and it will be me that the flight attendant is talking to when they announce that "those in Premiere Class may choose their own seat back position, however, they will need to store their ottoman for decent" (what an inconvenience!!!!)

It has also taken me longer to post as I have not had anything show until now. I have been flat out working on a project that I insanely agreed to while we were away which needs to be finished by the end of the month ...

How many days are there again until December?

This is my little quilt for the DQS. This also needs to be finished by the end of the month ... as you can see it will be a little late I hope that the recipient will forgive me.

My swap partner noted a dislike of a specific colour in her profile. I never realised how much I use this colour ... it has been difficult.

I never got to do very much sewing on our trip. I had imagined that I would have gotten a lot of hand piecing done while we were driving ... however, I never realised that my role during the driving phases would involve quite so many panic attacks! It is quite hard to hold a needle and sew a straight line when you are breathing into a paper bag ;).

I did however manage to draw up plans for 6 new quilts and many more ideas for others ... so it would seem that 2009 is going to be a busy year!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS. When I collected the mail yesterday I was very pleased to see my new copy of Quilters Companion waiting for me ... and look what I found on the last page ....

Thats me listed beside my very cool and tallented friend Tracey!!!!! I was so excited I almost wet myself! ... as you can see there is not a lot of excitement in my life! :)

October 23, 2008

I have been planing this tutorial for sometime and I hope that you find it useful. Most patchwork and quilting magazines and books provide explanations regarding how to apply a binding to your quilt. Dear Fi also posted a great tutorial a little while ago, so there is plenty of information to access out there when it comes to finishing off your quilt.

So why bother with another tutorial you may ask ... well I finish off my bindings differently to the way that most instructions are detailed. It is not something that I have invented. It has been done this way by many, for a long time. It is a little more fiddly than the regular way but it will give you a better finish ... have a go and let me know what you think!

In this tutorial I have included;

How to add a hanging pocket

How match up stripes when joining binding strips with a mitered seam

How to finish off a your binding with a mitered join

Adding a Hanging Pocket;

On medium to large sized quilts I make the finished width of my hanging pockets 4". Depending on how you want to mount your quilt you may want to make this slightly smaller for small quilts. Just remember that the finished width will be half the cut width minus 1/2".

1. Once you have squared up your quilt you will need to measure the edges of it and record it somewhere where you won't loose it. Cut a strip of fabric for the hanging pocket that is;

8 1/2 " wide by the length of the top edge of your quilt

2. Turn over the edge of each short end of the strip of fabric 1/4" and press. Turn the edge over again another 1/4" and press. Secure the hem with a straight row of stitching.

3. Fold the strip in half length ways and press.

4.Locate the center of the long edge of the sleeve and mark it with a pin and do the same with the top edge of your quilt.

5.With the back of your quilt facing up, lay the pocket on top of the quilt matching up the centering pins, ensuring that the raw edges of the pocket line up with the edge of the quilt.

6. Pin the pocket in place. You will notice that the pocket is now approximately 1/2" shorter on each ended than the quilt top due to the hems that we just made ... this is perfect!

The pocket will now be secured when the binding is sewn on ... but first lets join our binding strips!

How to match up stripes when joining binding strips with a mitered seam;

I don't know about you but I love striped bindings and when the stripes match up it's even better! :)

1. Make your binding strips - I usually just cut my binding along the straight grain of my fabric and I generally cut them to a width of 2 1/2".

2. To calculate the number of binding strips that you will need;

add the measurements of the edges of your quilt and add an additional 20"

divide

this measurement by the length of the individual strips that you cut and this will will give you the number of strips you will need in total.

3. Place the two ends of the binding strips that you plan to join, right side up, side by side in front of you.

4. Find the same print repeat point in both pieces of fabric - mark these points with a pin. (see below)

5.With right sides together place one length on top of the other matching the pins - see below bottom left hand corner of the overlapped fabric.

6.Using a ruler with a 45 degree angle marking - line up the 45 degree angle with the edge of the bottom piece of fabric and the diagonal of the top strip, as shown below, mark this line lightly with a pencil.

7. Pin and sew securing the start and stop points of your seam.

8. Open the seam out and check that the stripes match up - if they do trim your seam allowance to 3/4" and press the seam open.

9.Once all of the binding strips have been joined fold the strip in half and press.

How to attach your binding and finish it off with a mitered seam

1.Take one end of the binding and position it on one side of the quilt top matching raw edges. Begin slightly off center leaving a tail approximately 10" long.

2. Pin the binding in place along the remaining length of that side. Mark 1/4" from the end of this side with a pin.

3. Using a walking foot sew down this seam maintaining a 1/4" seam allowance. To help me maintain this seam allowance when I am using my walking foot I mark the distance 1/4" from from my needle with a strip of masking tape. I then use this edge to line up with the edge of my quilt.

4. Finish this seam and secure your stitches at the 1/4" point that you previously marked in step 2.

5. Remove your quilt from your machine and fold the binding to the right. Use your ruler to ensure that this fold is at a 45 degree angle - see below. Pin in place.

6. Fold the binding back to the left ensuring that the fold matches up with the edge of the quilt. Pin in place. Pin the binding to that side of the quilt, again marking 1/4" from the end point.

7. Sew down the length of the side od the quilt stopping at the 1/4" point and proceed as per previous corner.

8. Continue in this same way until you reach the side where you began. Secure the binding with pins and sew. Finish stitching 10" short of your starting point. Secure your stitching.

9. Over lap the binding by the exact width of your binding - in this case it is 2 1/2". Trim the excess binding.

10. Fold the quilt over right sides together. Take one end of the binding, place the short edge along the long side of the other binding end - matching up as shown below.

11. Mark the 45 degree diagonal with a pencil - this will be your stitching line. The first couple of times that you do this you may want to pin along this line and check that everything fits nicely before you sew the seam.

12. Once you have sewn the seam, lay the seam flat and refold the binding and check that it sits nicely along the edge of your quilt.

13. Once you are satisfied with the fit, trim the seam allowance to 3/4" and pin the binding in place. Complete the seam.Unfortunately, the stripes at this seam won't match unless the Gods are smiling on you :)!

14. Turn the binding to the back of the quilt and blind stitch in place.

15.When you fold over the binding at the corners fiddle with it until the miter sits nicely. Secure with pins and blind stitch it in place.

16. Once you have finished sewing the binding, blind stitch the bottom end of the hanging pocket.

17. Stitch the ends of the hanging pocket making sure that you only sew down the side that touches the back of the quilt - leaving an opening through which a hanging rod can be placed.

18. Add a label and your done!!!

I hope that this is helpful.

I will 'see' you all again on Sunday this week ... I'm spicing it up a little :).